


What to Me

by spaceconversii



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Comfort, Dreams, F/F, F/M, Homophobia, Hurt, Kidnapped, M/M, Maternal Instinct, Nightmares, Other, Poison, Torture, Trapped, coffee but its appleblood, lumity stans stay winning, maternal, parentalabuse, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:14:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceconversii/pseuds/spaceconversii
Summary: A powerful enemy of Eda Clawthorne tries to get information from her kid, a human in this realm must have some hidden power, but how to get her to talk./Eda and Lilith being moms
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 11
Kudos: 141





	1. Apple Blood

Ever since Lilith had decided to stay with them, things had been a little on-edge to say the least. Luz wasn’t ready to forgive her just yet. All that had happened that night, it terrified her to her core. Luz spent what seemed like forever in that little orb, her body shook from terror and from cold. Her cowl did little to protect her from the constant freezing temperature. How could she be so stupid? She was so focused on Eda and curing her curse, and now she was in danger. The strangest thing was, when Luz plummeted off the bridge into spikes, she wasn’t scared then. She was somewhat sad, she only had a few thoughts until her ultimate demise, her poor Mamá, she would never know what had happened. But then, Eda's magic seized her. Her sudden comfort was replaced by worry, as she remembered the Curse, Eda was using too much power. The firm push of Lilith's magic was strong, too. She struggled as her body was pushed further down towards the thorns. 

Luz relieved that experience almost every night, in the form of nightmares, sometimes Lilith won, sometimes Eda couldn't get to her in time. Sometimes, even, she managed to wake herself up before the dream made her meet her end. Tonight was no exception to the nightmares, Luz had broken into Eda’s apple blood juice earlier this week to make up for her lack of sleep. She wasn't sure that the composition of the juice would be good on a human, but it seemed to take the same effect as coffee did.

No matter how much apple blood she drank that morning, sleep won her over and she encountered the same sleepy fate. She was in the blue orb again, shaking and shivering.

“Useless human, how could you be so stupid?” Lilith's voice mixed with her mama’s, she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. 

Each time Luz tried to remind herself it was just a dream, but each time her fear distracted her from realizing it. 

The blue orb broke and she could hear Eda screaming for her, “Kid hang in there!”

“Eda?! I'm in here! Lilith has me!”

Looking down she realized her shirt was turning darker, she was bleeding, from what though? She collapsed in pain, holding her stomach where the crimson stained her shirt. Lilith stood behind her, a thorn in her hand, she had done this.

Eda burst in, and Lilith charged at her, Luz knew what was going to happen, it happened almost every night.

______________________

Lilith stayed downstairs on the couch, her sister was generous to let her stay, she was going to soon get her own room, but until then the couch was her chosen bed. 

She regretted deeply everything she had done to her sister, it was selfish, cruel, and uncaring. She couldn't imagine forgiving someone who had done the things she did to her. But Edalyn cared, she liked to pretend she didn't. But she couldn't hide it. Her “selfish evil witch” façade was just that, a façade. Lilith knew she was stubborn, she had disdain for rules, and she disliked bullies, but she was anything but selfish. That's probably why she could forgive her so quickly, although the process of regaining her trust would take longer, she could at least have a conversation with her.

The human girl, however, she hadn't known long enough to know her patterns. She knew the human girl, Luz, cared for Eda. Which was most likely why in the mornings she distanced herself from Lilith, she was warmer in the afternoons, she wasn't sure why, but Luz was definitely trying to forgive her.

That night, she had yet to fall asleep. She was looking for some of Eda’s apple blood in the kitchen, she knew Eda had just bought some more, so why couldn't she find any. There was no way only Eda would be able to drink all of the potent juice. Then, she heard a thump from upstairs.

It could be the emperor's guards, coming in through the windows upstairs. Or Eda’s curse kicking in. Either way, she ran quietly up the stairs. She followed the inconsistent thumps and they led to… Luz’s room? She looked carefully in through the crack in the door, and opened it when she saw no threat inside the room with the teenaged girl. 

Luz’s body lay bundled up in a sleeping bag on the floor, her chest rose and fell unevenly and Lilith soon discovered the source of the thumping. Luz thrashed on the ground, her head bucking up and slamming down into the hardwood floor. 

“Ah-” Lilith reached out, why was Luz hurting herself? Sleeps hold on her did not weaken, even with the thuds of her head.

“No please….” The human talked. 

was she awake, Lilith wondered?

She still slept, but the talking grew more unintelligible, some in a different language.

“Eda!... Here…. Please….”

She thrashed some more, Lilith didn't know what to do, but she dropped to her knees, holding the small girl's shoulders, “Human, wake up.”

“Don't let her hurt me, please Eda.”

What was she talking about?  
“Luz, are you okay?” Lilith asked more softly now, the human was terrified, her face scrunched up and contorted, sweat dripped from her brow and tears found their way from underneath her eyelids. 

She whimpered softly now, “Estoy asustada...Eda. Don't let Lilith hurt me.”

The witches hand found their way to her mouth, the nightmare was about her. Lilith didn’t even consider what she had put the human through, the terror of being captured, being used to lure someone you love to their demise. 

Lilith saw Luz start to wake and immediately hid behind a pile of boxes. Luz yelled out finally, waking herself up. She sat up and groaned, while rubbing the back of her head. Her breaths were quick and run together, she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Lilith watched as Luz stood up and walked toward the exit, heading downstairs. Her right hand running on the wall while her left hand rubbed away what Lilith presumed were tears.

Lilith followed Luz at a distance, silently while the young girl headed to the kitchen. Lilith watched from the corner as the girl produced some apple blood from a hiding spot in the cabinets. She prepared it for herself, and sat at the counter, rubbing her forehead.

“I see that's where all of Edalyn's apple blood has been disappearing to.”

Luz jumped at the sudden break in silence, registered it was just Lilith, then slightly untensing her body.

“Oh… yeah, hah.” Luz chuckled half-heartedly, she didn’t know what to say to Lilith after the ending of that dream.

A few beats of heavy silence filled the kitchen, the only sounds from Luz raising and resting her mug.

“You know-” Lilith took herself to the opposite side of the counter, resting her forearms on it and looking into Luz’s tired face. If she had to guess, she would say that the human girl had not gotten more than ten hours of sleep in the last eight days. “Apple blood can't keep you awake forever.”

“I know that.” Luz snapped coldly, then shaking her head, as if trying to get rid of the thoughts that plagued her, “I'm sorry, I just… I don't like to sleep sometimes.”

“Nightmares?”

Luz looked at her in awe, “How did you-”

“It's proven to be very hard to sleep through the constant banging on the floor above me.”

Luz’s face turned a shade of red as she rubbed the back of her head, it had been growing increasingly sore.

“Nightmares aren't anything to be ashamed of, we all get them.” Lilith cautiously placed her cold hand on Luz’s that rested on the counter, it was warm, but clammy. “Would it help to talk about them?”

“They’re not that bad, I was just-”

Luz looked up and made eye contact with a skeptical Lilith.

“It’s all my fault,” Her head dropped down to press on the cool counter.

“What is?”

“If I hadn’t been so stupid... I'm a nobody back home, a weirdo, I have no special talents except making people run away the moment they get to know me. I have no talents here either, a few little spells on paper. I guess I thought I could be a part of something. Anything.” The young girl raised her head and tapped her fingers, “Eda was one of the first people, besides my Mamá, who accepted me, and I just wanted to help her. Her curse was getting scarier…”

Lilith’s heart sunk a little, her curse.

“It was taking more and more to bring her back from the owl beast form.” Luz lifted up her shirt to show three long scratches across her side, they had scarred over, but around it was still reddish, “The one time I was trying to get her to come back without the elixir, she did this. She still has no idea that I got hurt and I kept it from her, I didn't want her to feel bad for something she couldn't control. The worst was when she was hurting, even when she wasn’t the owl beast she would get weaker at times, and I saw it. She had been doing everything for me, and I wanted to help her.”

She knew where this was headed, she didn’t have to finish it.

“But I got captured, stupidly.” Lilith was glad she spared the name of her captor, it was her after all, ”I wasn't thinking. I endangered myself, and even worse, Eda. She used all of her magic trying to keep me safe, and now she has to live without her magic.”

A tear dropped to the counters surface, Luz sniffed quietly, she was trying not to cry.

“And you.”

Lilith gasped softly.

“You have to live with bits of the curse, too. Your magic is weakened as well, and all because I had to want to be a part of something, I wanted to play the hero and disregarded everything. I should’ve just gone to the Normal Kid Summer Camp like my mom said. Dios mío.”

After everything Lilith had put her through, this kid was blaming herself.

“Listen, Luz. There’s nothing I can say to make it right, what I did to you. It was wrong. Up until that point I thought you were Eda's little pet. I didn't even consider that you had feelings. It was all my fault, every bit of it. I took you to use as bait, I put you in danger to weaken Eda, I even was the cause of the damn curse that you were working so hard to fix. I know that it won't stop the nightmares, but I promise, I never really meant to hurt you, and I will never let you get hurt again.”


	2. Keloids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity and Luz go to talk about their problems together, they might get a little too close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight trigger warning, if the topics of ab*se, h*mophobia, p*rents bother you i would not recommend reading this

A cloaked figure walked across the mansion grounds, intent on their task. They entered the house, and found their way to the library, where the two owners of the house had gathered. 

“Now I’m aware of how much your reputation means to you, so it would greatly concern you what I have been able to find.” His voice whispered in a strong way, a gloved hand reaching from inside his coat and pulling out an envelope, he opened it and approached the table to which the people were sitting. The pictures dumped out.

The pictures featured a group of kids, smiling, laughing. Just the attendees of Hexside, having fun together. “Who is that girl? Why have we not heard of her?” The man pointed his pale finger at the tanned girl who stood close to the target.

“Dear look at her ears… she's…” The two locked golden eyes, “Human.”

“Fraternizing with a human? That is not possible.”

“It's more than that, ma’am.” He pulled out the last picture in the pile, featuring only two hands, one tanned, one pale with black nail polish, intertwined in a gentile grip.

“No…” The woman ran her long fingers through her green hair, “Alador, we mustn’t let this go further.”

Alador looked at the woman, Odalia. He nodded in agreement. They needed to do it.

________________________  
________________________

“Amity!” Luz ran up to the pale witch who stood at the end of the hall, she almost lost her footing and skid the rest of the way to face her friend.

Amity giggled uselessly. She loved how careless that girl could be.

It had been a long school day, she was exhausted from it. Amity had two tests today and a study hall for a third test. It seemed the closer they got to winter the more teachers had been trying to pack the classes with as much knowledge as possible. It was expected though, trilogy tests were coming up and no one was excited for that. Luz helped ease her mind, though, maybe she would ask to hang out and Amity could finally unwind.

“Lilith, King, and Eda went on some trip to get information today, do you maybe want to hang out so I don't have to spend 12 hours alone with Hooty?”

Amity shivered at the thought. Even ten minutes alone with Hooty would be torture. 

“Yeah, sure! I don't have anything to do anyways.” She hoped she didn't sound too eager, although she really was that. Eager.

Luz squealed with delight, “Yay!”

The two gathered their things and headed out of the school, blissfully unaware of the figure that stood in the bushes. 

The teens walked down and into a familiar path in the forest. Amity watched as Luz kicked a rock down the path, each time she came across it again she would kick it. Until she eventually kicked it off the path and left Luz with nothing else to play soccer with.

“Sooo Amity…. You've been writing any Azura fanfiction lately?”

Amity turned bright red, “Luz!” She playfully pushed Luz with her shoulder.

“Alright alright!” Luz laughed, “It's nothing to be ashamed of! Everyone does it! Did you know Romeo and Juliet was originally a fanfiction?”

“Romeo and who?”

“Oh right, it's some old terribly boring “love” story between this kid and this prince or whatever. It's old. But the point is, everyone worshipped it, and they still do. But it was fanfiction!” Luz’s hands went into the air as she yelled that last part, making Amity chuckle. 

They continued on walking, there was a little clearing up ahead. They had found that spot earlier in the month when Lilith was first living with Luz and Eda, Luz had to sort out her feelings for the woman, because she was Eda’s sister, but also caused Luz a lot of pain. They would sit there for a bit, talking about Lilith, school, and life back home. 

They found their way to a little spot in the grass, where fall flowers began to bloom. Luz had noticed Amity’s stressful nature lately and asked her what was wrong. It took a bit but Amity opened up a little about her stressful parents. She loved them but… she didn’t respect them, she explained. 

“It's complicated,” she had said, while pulling a tuft of grass out from the ground.

“I get it,” Luz paused, “Well, I don't. My Mamá does though.”

Amity looked up out of curiosity.

“My mom’s parents, my abuela and abuelo, they were very strict. They worked hard to get into America from their country, and they always were mean to my mom. I don't think they meant to, but they were so worried for her future that they forgot they were parents. They became controlling and… abusive. So my mom left, when she was 17. She went to college and everything to make a life for herself. Then she had me.”

Luz looked up then, Amity was intrigued to say the least.

“My abuela, she was so worried when my mom had me, she insisted I would come every month or so to stay with them. She would…”

Amity saw Luz tearing up as she hyperfocused on a flower petal. Intent on stripping every fiber from the bud. The pale witch tentatively placed her hand on the girl's knee.

“She would get mad at me sometimes, she wanted what was best for me, she always said. She would yell that I would end up throwing my life away like my mother… The last time I visited her I called my mom to pick me up, she was scaring me. She overheard me and grabbed my wrist. Real hard.”

Luz held out her left hand, and Amity could see a long keloid. Surrounded by a slightly darker spot.

“Bruises don't last that long do they?”

Luz sighed, rolling her sleeve back down, “They do when it breaks bones, I guess.”

“Oh.”

“Anyways, I think sometimes parents get so worked up, they forget that their goal isn't to scare their kids, but to comfort them and guide them through whatever they need. Like your parents. I'm sure they love you, but they're so worked up about your future. It feels weird to love them, I guess. It's hard to explain. But it's okay to not love them, and it's okay to love them. You don't need to explain yourself. You just need to do whatever you think you need to do. ”

Amity teared up, “Thanks Luz, that was good to hear.”

Luz brushed the grass stains off her pants as she stood up, attempting to tighten the cowl over herself as a cold breeze shifted through the trees. Amity attempted to get up, taking Luz’s outstretched hand and pulling herself up. She almost went too far, her forehead bonking against the tanned girls’, she stayed there for a bit, looking closely into Luz’s brown eyes. They were both smiling.

“You really gotta work on that, Amity.” She giggled, and Amity swayed, she smelled like lemon. Lemon and cinnamon.

Then, everything around them went black.

_________________________________  
_________________________________

“Amity Odalia Blight!” A voice shook the two to their core.

“Amity what’s happening?” Luz tightened her grip onto Amity, shifting so she was holding her hand and the other hand protectively on the pale girl’s shoulder.

Two looming figures came into view, Amity knew exactly what was going on, but she never had expected it. It was only from nightmares.

Luz could feel Amity start to shake terribly, her hand squeezing Luz’s so hard she was afraid it might break. She had never seen Amity so scared. Her jaw was clenched, and Luz could have sworn she heard a tooth crack. A vein showed itself on the witches' temple, the temple that sweat already made its way down.

“Get away from Amity, human.” The voice belonged to a woman, it was cold, and frightening. Luz wanted to get away, but the fear she felt was only miniscule compared to Amity's, who stood frozen in place. 

Luz stepped between the figures as they began to step closer. She held the witch behind her with an outstretched arm. “Don't you come near us.”

They seemed to discard her statement and continued to step so Luz could make out their faces, they looked familiar.

“Don't touch her!” Luz stepped back toward Amity, but the woman acted quickly. Her staff summoned from nowhere and swung in an sideways motion until it made purchase with Luz’s throat.

Luz went down and to the side, choking and coughing from the impact on her esophagus. She tried to breathe in but something wouldn't let her. She felt like she was suffocating.

“Luz!” Amity stepped toward her but the man drew a circle in the air, making Amity’s body glow yellow. She couldn't move.

Luz finally got a suck of air in as she dropped from her knees to flat on her face in the grass. She could see Amity in her frozen state, being talked to by who Luz deduced were her parents.

“Why would you associate with the likes of her? Blights do not hold hands with Humans.” Odalia spat out the last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. 

“Mother-” Amity attempted to speak but her father cut her off.

“Have we not given enough to you? We made sure you had a good room to study in, we gave you good friends to be with, we even let you have some alone time, we wouldn't even mention when you stayed after school late. I should've known you would betray us like this.”

“Luz isn't bad! Father, she's my friend!”

Odalia gasped, “Talking back to your father? No doubt something this human taught you-” her palisman’s eyes glowed green and she extended the staff to Luz, who was now attempting to rise from the floor. A green bolt protruded from the staff and surrounded the tanned girl, lifting her a foot above the ground and began to glow horrifyingly.

Luz screamed in agony as she felt electricity, or some witch equivalent, coursing through her body. It caused her to bite at her own lip, blood quickly forming from the sheer force. Her body shook violently and her muscles began to cramp from moving too quickly all at once for too long.

“Mother stop! Please stop!” Amity's screams were hardly heard over the sound of Odalia's magic, her father watched as Amity sobbed, uselessly trying to talk to her mother.

Odalia’s eyes kept focused on the human girl, the girl's eyes focusing and unfocusing now, her breaths shallow and her screams guttural. Eventually succumbing to choked sobs. The green-haired witch finally stopped and let Luz to the ground. The girl couldn't do anything but lay in a fetal position in the grass. She wasn't sure when she could see the trees instead of the dome of darkness she was in before. She didn't even care, her whole body hurt, her headache, and her throat still was damaged. 

“Why should I stop, Amity? This girl is nothing more than a bother. Didn’t she make you lose your position as top student? Why would you defend someone of that stature?” 

Alador's grasp on Amity had long been released, but she couldn't tell. She stepped towards her mother, glaring with piercing gold eyes.

“She’s my friend!”

Luz closed her eyes now, she couldn’t focus on what anyone was saying. She couldn't even remember what she had been doing.

“Why would you be friends with someone so incapable? She has no special qualities, she has nothing to offer, she's a worthless human. You disregard all the friends I pick out for you, you disobey my order to cut ties with Willow Park, and now you pick this human to protect?”

“Luz isn't a worthless human!” Amity stepped between her mother and the girl laying in the grass, her whole body still making little convulsions.

“What's so special about her? Shes a dumb human,”

“She-”

“The human pet cant even do basic magic without help,”

“Luz is-”

“Why do you care about someone of her stature?”

“BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HER.”

Amity's chest rose and fell from the sudden burst of adrenaline. She had never raised her voice at her mother, and she saw as her mother's golden eyes turned stormy. There was silence for a few minutes, almost similar to when birds stop singing before a storm.

Odalias nostrils flared and she looked between her daughter, and the human. She brought the staff down on Amity this time, making contact with her left eye. Amity immediately saw stars on that side, it took everything she had to not pass out.

“In love with a girl human?”

Amity licked her lips and pursed them together, she was still reeling from that statement.

“Disgusting. A disdain. This simply won't do.” Odalia muttered to herself.

“..Amity…” Luz whimpered reaching out to her friend.

Amity started towards her when Luz was once again caught in a green light, a magic hand held her still. The young pale witch looked back at her mother, who looked at her back with abhorrence. 

“It's worse than I thought.”

Luz gasped as the hand tightened around her waist and abdomen, she kicked and flailed uselessly as she scratched at the magic hand that held her. Amity watched, in horror, as the hand holding Luz flung her right into the biggest tree in the clearing. Luz’s body hit the tree with a deafening crack and she fell the six feet to the ground where she lay, unmoving.

“Luz! Luz please move!” Amity started towards her but she felt her father’s hold on her again, and her mother muttered as she cast one of her famous sleep spells. "Luz! Please you have to wake up... get up... you cant... Luz..." She was getting tired, the weight of her mothers spell landed on her fully. "Luz come on, get up, you never give up... you have to get up... you cant just... L-luz."

The pale girl wiggled and winced under the spell, but it had its hold, Amity watched as another figure came out from the woods, picking up the teenaged girl that lay feet away. The figure made some conversation with her parents, but she couldn't hear what. It was already draining to see at all. All she could do was watch as Luz was carried away, and Amity floated behind her parents. That was all she could muster as she let herself slip into nothingness.


	3. Paralysis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its more that sleep paralysis, and Amity knows it.

Luz walked downstairs into the living room of the Owl House. She had just woken up, sleep still in her eyes. It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to what she saw. Lilith stood by the coffee table, piles of books and articles littered the floor. She was trying to reverse the curse. She pinched the bridge of her nose calmly, and luz doubted whether Lilith even knew the teen was awake.

“Ahem” The kid cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself, accidentally making the witch jump.

“Oh Luz! I didn’t know you were awake!” Lilith smiled at the girl who rubbed her eyes.

“I don't know if I'm awake either…” Luz sat on the couch and looked at one of the books that lay open, most of which Luz couldn't understand. Her tired eyes and nonfluency in the witches' strange language did not help.

“Luz," Lilith's voice was giddy, she was excited about something. “Kid I found something.”

A yawn escaped the girl's lips, she had gotten plenty of sleep, but it would take a bit for her to fully wake up.

“While I was searching for something for the curse, I was also looking for some stuff about earth.”

Luz perked up.

“Luz I think I might've found a way to get you home, it will take a bit, but it might just work.”

Luz stared at Lilith, Eda’s sister, who looked like she had been reading for days. She couldn't contain herself any longer. Tears began to pull at her eyes and she giggled happily. It was one of those moments when you realize that someone cares for you and you care for them. Luz jumped up and ran to Lilith. Doing the parallel arm thing. She wrapped her arms around her and buried her face into the witch's dress, she could find a way home after all. 

It had been two weeks since she was supposed to come home. Her phone died a while ago, but not soon enough. Her mom texted her, the day she was supposed to come home, “Mija please, answer my calls. Please tell me you're safe.” Luz considered texting back but her phone died at just that moment. She was alone. Her mom was worried sick and she couldn't tell her what was happening. She couldn't even tell her she was sorry. Luz kept her arms wrapped around the still-shocked Lilith, her head buried away from her.

“Thank you, Lilith.”

Lilith stood in shock and then returned the hug. She had never really hugged anyone before, and this felt good. She felt warm and she knew Luz counted on her. Luz hugged her tighter, and that was the moment she fully forgave her, fully trusted her, and maybe even loved her.

_________________________________  
_________________________________

Amity woke up to the sun shining through her window, it hurt her eyes something awful. She was never a morning person. She tried to move, but she couldn't. She wasn’t tied down, but her arms and legs refused to move. It was like she had sleep paralysis, but different. 

Sleep paralysis had haunted Amity before, when she was a young kid to her early teens, she would almost wake up with a heaviness in her chest and an inability to move. This was different. She was fully awake, she could look around and process things in her room, but she couldn't move. At least she could look around. A quick survey of her tidy and orderly room proved nothing out of the ordinary. Until she looked by her vanity. 

Two bags were sloppily placed by the corner of the desk, one was opened, its contents spilled slightly out.

Amity never put her bookbag in the corner. She always put it on the coat hanger. And why were there two? Then she realized, it was so sudden and terrifying that she felt like she had been punched in the gut. Luz.

Luz was in the woods with her. Luz talked to her about her parents. Luz tried to protect her. Luz was hurt. Luz’s bag was in her room.

Amity’s parents must've grabbed both bags, not knowing one of them belonged to the human. So it wasn’t a nightmare. This had actually happened. Her parents had… no. Amity couldn’t think like that. Surly her parents were not capable of something like that? Right? She turned her head to see her scroll on her nightstand and using all her energy, she flopped her arm over to grab it. 

She pulled it to her face, getting into her contacts and searching for Luz. Luz’s phone and the witch's scrolls were not that different. So Amity could text her. 

“Luz? Are you okay? I think I had a weird dream…”

Sent.

Delivered.

“Bing!”

Amity whipped her head to the direction of the sound. Luz’s backpack. The pale witch flipped her body over, still unable to break from her paralysis’ hold. She rolled off the bed, resulting in a loud thump she hoped her parents wouldn’t hear. Using the little muscle she could she pulled herself to the backpacks, sitting on her legs she ruffled through the second bag. It was clearly Luz’s. Papers and pens loosely shoved in, a few Band-Aids and markers also. She continued to search until she grabbed a rectangle, pulling it out and she confirmed her fear. Luz’s phone was in her bag. So it wasn't a dream, no matter how much she wished it was. She let out a choked sob as she layed on the hard floors again. She could hear the footsteps, her parents were coming.

She tried to scoot away as much as possible but she still had limited reign over her own body. But she braced as the steps came closer. Closer. And closer.

A gentle knock resonated from the wood of the door, three times. It wasn't her parents. Her body untensed as she recognized the knocking code from Emira. She returned the knock with four, signaling that all was clear, and she could come in. The door opened to Emira holding a tray of medicine and water, and a smiling Edric from behind her. 

Emira shoved the tray in Edrics direction and ran towards her sister, who lay on the floor. 

“Amity what happened?” She dropped to her sister's side and helped her up to guide her to her bed. “You can’t get up, you're sick.”

“...no…” Amity tried to talk but nothing would come out. Why wasn't she coherent?  
Edric sat in a chair he had pulled to her bed as Emira tucked her younger sister in. Something she would only do when Amity was a baby.

Emira proceeds to sit on the edge of Amity’s pink bed, “Mom says you got the Welhans. You shouldn't be contagious anymore, but you still need to rest.”

“I'm not-” Amity started to cry. Why was Emira saying she was sick?

“Amity you have to rest, you can't go to school like this.”

That wasn't what she was worried about! Why couldn't she say anything? Luz was in danger.

“Mom and dad are at some kind of meeting. They shouldn’t be back for awhile. But mom told us to give you this potion if you woke up, it's supposed to help with the sickness.”

Amity violently shook her head, she wasn't sick and she wasn't going to take any potion from her mother.

“Edric give me the potion.” Emira looked at Amity carefully as she extended her arm behind her.

“Emira…” Amity’s speech was getting better. She needed to tell her about Luz. “Luz is-”

“I know, she's missing. Willow told us yesterday.” Emira patted Amity's cold and clammy arm, “How did you know? You've been sick almost all week.”

Amity started hyperventilating, she was sick all week? How long has Luz been gone? How long has she just been laying in bed? She brought her arm up to touch her eye, the eye that her mom hit.

"You fell off the bed, I know. Your eye looks pretty bad... Edric give me the potion now!” Emira looked back finally to see Edric licking some of the potion off a spoon he had produced, “DON'T EAT THAT!”

“I was curious! It's not like it's gonna make me sick or anything, it's a healing potion right-” his eyes grew wide as he slipped off the chair.

“See? Do you see why you shouldn’t drink any healing potion you come across?”

“Emira…” Edric stayed on the ground, “This isn't a healing potion.”

She froze.

“...what?”

“Listen, don't get mad. Sometimes, I test people's potions for class.”

“What?!” Emira yelled, surprised at her brother's comment.

“I never get hurt or anything, I only drink the somewhat harmless ones. But this. This isn't a healing potion. I've tasted it before.”

“Then what is it?”

“Paralysis.”

________________  
________________

When Luz awoke, she immediately felt a splitting pain in her head. Her body shook continuously. This would always happen when Luz would have her panic attacks, but while she sat in that room, all the techniques she knew to calm herself down wouldn't work. Echoes of Amity's voice resonated through her mind. She couldn’t exactly piece together what had happened. She remembered reassuring Amity about her parents, she said they probably still loved her. Then she remembered Amity’s parents.

“Well I was wrong.” Luz whispered, attempting to ground herself.

She could feel cold on her back. Metal maybe, or concrete. She looked down at her torso, and wrapped around it was some glowing rope. Magic, she concluded. Every movement of her head sent another spiral of pain into her. Her muscles ached and her head felt like it was splitting in two. 

“I guess that's one thing to be grateful for.” Luz said, commenting on the dimness of the room. 

She could make out that she was in a concrete room, not much bigger than Eda’s broom closet. Her torso was tied to what looked like the back of a chair. Her arms and legs were also bound. Connected to the arms and legs of said chair. Her hair was wet. Why was her hair wet? It drooped over her face and began to curl in front of her eyes. She could hear distant metal clanking, along with the sounds of glass bottles. It reminded her of when her mom would can some of the leftover vegetables from their garden into little mason jars. Luz would grab the jars in her arms and they would clink together as she put them away. 

Then, the door opened, a figure stood in the doorway. Luz attempted to see the perpetrator but the light behind him was blinding.

“Human. I have brought you here because I seek information.” His voice boomed toward her, and she shook in response, “You are in constant company of Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne. You must know some information from the strongest witches in the boiling isles.”

Luz stayed silent, she figured that was the best way to stay safe.

“And your lineage… You are human, no? No known human has ever set foot in the boiling isles. You could hold unimaginable powers.” The figure shut the door behind them, they stepped closer to the light, a bunch of glowing orbs suspended in a small cage above Luz’s head. 

Luz could see his face now. It was a pale purple, sunken around the eyes and cheeks. His lips were an unnatural grey, made to match with his bloodshot eyes. He looked to be somewhat young, despite his wrinkled hands and how his voice grumbled. White, shriveled hair made its way from his head, it was shaggy and looked as if it had never been washed. He stepped closer to Luz, putting his hand on the back of her chair and tilting her back so she was looking up at him. He leaned closer and began to speak, filling Luz’s nostrils with a putrid smell.

“You’re going to talk now, and you’re going to give me absolutely everything I need.”

Luz’s eyes squinted challengingly, she wouldn't give him anything about Eda and Lilith.

“I grow impatient, little girl.”

Luz scoffed to herself, rolling her eyes and looking away. Sure, she was terrified but Eda could be in danger if she gave anything up. Her body was a dead giveaway compared to her brassy tone, it shook with every nerve, and she couldn't get it to stop.

“I guess that's one good thing about your being a human,” he paused, letting her chair drop loudly to the floor again.

“You’re so much easier to hurt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank yall for reading! Sorry about the long wait, work has been killing me lately! I promise to update more as fast as I can...  
>  Thank you so much for the Kudos and Comments! They make me so happy and literally make me smile all day no matter how many Karens I deal with at work :')  
> Please feel free to build off my concept as long as you mention me :)  
> TYSM


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